CHICAGO — The Corn Syrup War, launched with a
snarky ad during this month’s Super Bowl, may have
destroyed an uneasy alliance between Anheuser-Busch and
MillerCoors to reverse sliding beer sales with a broader
industry campaign.

The commercial for Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light, which
employed the brand’s now-familiar medieval theme, fired
a catapult over the castle walls at Miller Lite and
Coors Light for using corn syrup in the brewing process.

MillerCoors was not amused, pulling out of a
long-planned collaboration with Anheuser-Busch and other
beer makers to win back drinkers, many of whom have
drifted to wine and spirits.

“Obviously since Anheuser- Busch used the largest
marketing platform in the United States to demonize the
beer category, we’ve decided to put that work on pause,”
Pete Marino, chief communications officer for
Chicago-based MillerCoors, said Monday.

In the works for more than 18 months, the campaign was
still in the planning stages, with Anheuser-Busch,
Miller Coors, Heineken and Constellation Brands among
the beer makers at the table, along with industry
organizations such as the National Beer Wholesalers
Association.

An ad agency had not yet been selected, but the campaign
was likely to be in the “Got Milk?” mode of the dairy
industry, trying to boost the broader beer category.
Marino said he expected a test campaign to launch as
early as this summer.

Ad campaign still on, says Anheuser-Busch
official

Cesar Vargas, vice president of legal and corporate
affairs for Anheuser-Busch, said in an emailed statement
Monday the beer industry ad campaign is still on.

“We, along with other members of our industry, remain
fully committed to strengthening the beer category and
our joint efforts to highlight the very positive impact
that beer has on our economy and in our communities will
continue as planned,” Vargas said.

Bjorn Trowery, director of communications for Heineken
USA, said Monday that “it’s too early to tell” what the
impact of the feud between Anheuser-Busch and
MillerCoors will mean to the campaign, but the beer
maker remains “committed to growing the category.”

Constellation Brands’ beer division, based in Chicago,
makes and imports Mexican beers like Corona and Modelo.
The company did not respond to a request for comment
Monday.

Both Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors may have something
to gain by working together, as the beer category loses
ground.

Beer sales, which peaked at 214.7 million barrels in
2008, have fallen 4 percent since then to about 206
million barrels last year. The growth of wine and
spirits has drained some of beer’s market share, but
demographic issues are in play as well.

“Younger drinkers drink less and less beer,” said Benj
Steinman, president of Beer Marketer’s Insights, a beer
industry trade publication. “So that’s a problem.”

Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite are the three
largest-selling beer brands in the U.S., and all are
losing market share faster than the industry.

MillerCoors has been on the defensive since the Bud
Light Super Bowl spot aired on Feb. 3. The beer maker
has run full page newspaper ads, social media campaigns
and even went to Iowa to buy beers for farmers in
support of corn and other crops that contribute to
making beer, Marino said.

Marino said many beers use corn syrup as a fermenting
sugar in the brewing process and it has no effect on the
final product. Miller-Coors does not add high fructose
corn syrup, which some consumers avoid as a potential
health risk, to its beer, he said.